Double-decker Megabus, tractor-trailer crash on Hwy. 401 near Lancaster
A crash between a double-decker Megabus and a tractor-trailer on Highway 401 near Lancaster, Ont., injured 23 people, four seriously.
Police officers, paramedics and firefighters responded to the scene at 2:30 p.m. ET on Tuesday, about 120 kilometres southeast of Ottawa.
Police said there were 45 people on the bus when it crashed into a ditch that separated the highway's eastbound and westbound lanes, and 23 of them were injured.
One woman, previously reported by police as a teenage boy, was airlifted to hospital and three others were taken to area hospitals with serious injuries, police added. Nineteen people suffered minor injuries.
The passengers that escaped injury were then taken to the arena in nearby Williamstown, Ont.
Bus headed from Montreal to Toronto
CBC Ottawa reporter Alistair Steele spoke to passengers who were able to get out of the bus after the crash, but one woman was trapped at the front of the vehicle.
"It was a really horrific experience. There was a woman who was pinned, who was screaming, she was sitting at the front," passenger Max Kelly told the Canadian Press Tuesday evening. "She was screaming, total panic and chaos."
"It felt like a tire blew out," said Kelly, adding that the bus was tilting and driving fast into the ditch as trees began to smash windows.
The bus didn't fall on its side, but came to rest leaning against trees, he said.
Inside the bus, people were panicking, he said.
"One lady jumped out of the window while other people were panicking and screaming in pain and confusion."
"I was actually the second last person off the bus. I helped an elderly man exit the bus," Kelly said.
Another young man stayed with the woman who was pinned in the front seat, he said.
They used the jaws of life to get her out, Kelly said.
"The same went for the driver. He was also pinned."
Katalia Percivao told the Canadian Press that she was snoozing in her seat on the middle of second deck of the bus when the crash happened.
"While I was sleeping, between sleep and awake, it was like I was I was dreaming that people were screaming. But then I woke up and it was not a dream."
The passenger sitting next to her was thrown from her seat.
"Me, I was trying to help people but then I just see blood running everywhere so I got scared and I jumped through the window," Percivao said. "The windows were all cracked so I went jumping out."
The bus involved in the crash began its route in Montreal and was en route to Toronto, with a stop in Kingston, Ont., when it collided with the tractor-trailer, Megabus confirmed.
"Safety is our number 1 priority and Megabus is fully co-operating with the authorities with their investigation into the incident," the company's statement read.
As of Wednesday morning, all westbound lanes of Highway 401 had been reopened.
- Here is the map of the crash location.
